Unlawful assembly

Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution of India guarantees the right to all citizens to “assemble peaceably and without arms.” However, Article 19(3) permits the state to impose reasonable restrictions “in the interests of sovereignty and integrity of India or public order.” Keeping that in mind, Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code was introduced, titled “Unlawful Assembly.”

With the introduction of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, unlawful assembly has been moved to Section 189, under Chapter XI, ‘Offences Against Public Tranquility.’

What is ‘Unlawful Assembly'

Unlawful Assembly is an assembly of five or more persons with the intent to commit an illegal act or to execute an act through illegal means. It is to be noted that an assembly can become unlawful even if the assembly was lawful when it convened.

There is a variation in the United States and Canada, where unlawful assembly is an assembly of three of more persons, with variations based on jurisdiction.

Official Definition of ‘Unlawful Assembly’

‘Unlawful Assembly' as defined in legislation

Unlawful Assembly - An assembly of five or more persons is designated an “unlawful assembly”, if the common object of the persons composing that assembly is

1. to overawe by criminal force, or show of criminal force, the Central Government or any State Government or Parliament or the Legislature of any State, or any public servant in the exercise of the lawful power of such public servant; or
2. to resist the execution of any law, or of any legal process; or
3. to commit any mischief or criminal trespass, or other offence; or
4. by means of criminal force, or show of criminal force, to any person, to take or obtain possession of any property, or to deprive any person of the enjoyment of a right of way, or of the use of water or other incorporeal right of which he is in possession or enjoyment, or to enforce any right or supposed right; or
5. by means of criminal force, or show of criminal force, to compel any person to do what he is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do what he is legally entitled to do.

Note:

An assembly which was not unlawful when it assembled, may subsequently become an unlawful assembly.

Dispersal of assembly by use of civil force.—(1) Any Executive Magistrate or officer in charge of a police station or, in the absence of such officer in charge, any police officer, not below the rank of a sub-inspector, may command any unlawful assembly, or any assembly of five or more persons likely to cause a disturbance of the public peace, to disperse; and it shall thereupon be the duty of the members of such assembly to disperse accordingly.

(2) If, upon being so commanded, any such assembly does not disperse, or if, without being so commanded, it conducts itself in such a manner as to show a determination not to disperse, any Executive Magistrate or police officer referred to in sub-section (1), may proceed to disperse such assembly by force, and may require the assistance of any male person, not being an officer or member of the armed forces and acting as such, for the purpose of dispersing such assembly, and, if necessary, arresting and confining the persons who form part of it, in order to disperse such assembly or that they may be punished according to law.

Use of armed forces to disperse assembly.—(1) If any such assembly cannot be otherwise dispersed, and if it is necessary for the public security that it should be dispersed, the Executive Magistrate of the highest rank who is present may cause it to be dispersed by the armed forces.

(2) Such Magistrate may require any officer in command of any group of persons belonging to the armed forces to disperse the assembly with the help of the armed forces under his command, and to arrest and confine such persons forming part of it as the Magistrate may direct, or as it may be necessary to arrest and confine in order to disperse the assembly or to have them punished according to law.

(3) Every such officer of the armed forces shall obey such requisition in such manner as he thinks fit, but in so doing he shall use as little force, and do as little injury to person and property, as may be consistent with dispersing the assembly and arresting and detaining such persons.

Power of certain armed force officers to disperse assembly.—When the public security is manifestly endangered by any such assembly and no Executive Magistrate can be communicated with, any commissioned or gazetted officer of the armed forces may disperse such assembly with the help of the armed forces under his command, and may arrest and confine any persons forming part of it, in order to disperse such assembly or that they may be punished according to law; but if, while he is acting under this section, it becomes practicable for him to communicate with an Executive Magistrate, he shall do so, and shall thenceforward obey the instructions of the Magistrate, as to whether he shall or shall not continue such action.

Protection against prosecution for acts done under preceding sections.—(1) No prosecution against any person for any act purporting to be done under section 129, section 130 or section 131 shall be instituted in any Criminal Court except—

(a) with the sanction of the Central Government where such person is an officer or member of the armed forces;

(b) with the sanction of the State Government in any other case.

(2) (a) No Executive Magistrate or police officer acting under any of the said sections in good faith;

(b) no person doing any act in good faith in compliance with a requisition under section 129 or section 130;

(c) no officer of the armed forces acting under section 131 in good faith;

(d) no member of the armed forces doing any act in obedience to any order which he was bound to obey, shall be deemed to have thereby committed an offence.

(3) In this section and in the preceding sections of this Chapter,—

(a) the expression “armed forces” means the military, naval and air forces, operating as land forces and includes any other armed forces of the Union so operating;

(b) “officer”, in relation to the armed forces, means a person commissioned, gazetted or in pay as an officer of the armed forces and includes a junior commissioned officer, a warrant officer, a petty officer, a non commissioned officer and a non-gazetted officer;

(c) “member”, in relation to the armed forces, means a person in the armed forces other than an officer.

Offence	Section	Description	Penal Provision	Cognizability/ Bailability/ Trialability	Remark
Unlawful Assembly	189	Assembly of five or more with a common illegal object	Imprisonment up to 2 years, fine or both	Cognizable; Non-bailable	Includes acts to overawe government, resist law, commit offenses, use force against individuals
Member of Unlawful Assembly	189-193	Joining or continuing in an unlawful assembly	Varies from 6 months to 2 years, fine, or both	Cognizable; Non-bailable	Includes armed membership, joining after dispersal command, hiring/promoting for unlawful assembly.
Offences during Unlawful Assembly	190-192	Offences comitted by any member during unlawful assembly	Imprisonment or fine	Depends on the specific offense	All members are held responsible

'Unlawful Assembly' in case law(s)

According to the section there are three essential elements to constitute Unlawful Assembly:

1. There must be an assembly of five or more persons
2. They must have a common intent
3. The intent must be commit a crime mentioned in the five clauses of Section 189.

In Dharam Pal v State of Uttar Pradesh, it was held that if out of the five people, one is acquitted, then the remaining cannot be convicted for unlawful assembly, unless the presence of certain unidentified persons is established.

'Unlawful Assembly' as defined in other official document(s)

According to the Freedom of Marriage and Association and Prohibition of Crimes in the name of Honour Bill, “assemble”, “congregate” or “gather” includes acting in concert through the use of any technological means or medium.

Regional Variations

Delhi

Compensation for injury caused by unlawful assembly how recoverable

(1) When any loss or damage is caused to any property or when death results or grievous hurt is caused to any person or persons, by anything done in the prosecution of the common object of an unlawful assembly, the Administrator may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify the area (hereafter in this section called the “disturbed area”) in which, and the date on which or the period during which, such unlawful assembly was, in his opinion, held.

(2) On the issue of a notification under sub-section (1), the District Collector may, after such inquiry as he deems necessary, determine the amount of the compensation which, in his opinion, should be paid to any person or persons in respect of the loss or damage or death or grievous hurt aforesaid.

(3) The amount of the compensation shall be deemed to be a fine imposed under this section, and shall be payable by the inhabitants of the disturbed area. (4) It shall be lawful for the District Collector to exempt, by order in writing and for sufficient reasons, any person from liability to pay any portion of the compensation amount.

International Experience

United States of America

Missouri’s criminal code specifies that “[a] person commits the crime of un lawful assembly if he knowingly assembles with six or more other persons and agrees with such persons to violate any of the criminal laws of this state or of the United States with force or violence.”

An unlawful assembly is the meeting together of three or more persons with the intent to disturb the public peace.

To constitute this offense, it must appear that there was common intent of the persons assembled to attain purpose, whether lawful or unlawful, by commissions of acts of intimidation and disorder likely to produce danger to the peace of neighborhood, and actually tending to inspire courageous persons with well-grounded fear of serious breaches of public speech. This intent or purpose does not need to exist at the outset.

Canada

• 63 (1) An unlawful assembly is an assembly of three or more persons who, with intent to carry out any common purpose, assemble in such a manner or so conduct themselves when they are assembled as to cause persons in the neighbourhood of the assembly to fear, on reasonable grounds, that they
  • (a) will disturb the peace tumultuously; or
  • (b) will by that assembly needlessly and without reasonable cause provoke other persons to disturb the peace tumultuously.

Appearance of 'term' in Database

Open Government Data Platform

Sl. No.	Crime Head	Cases Pending Investigation from Previous Year	Cases Reported during the year	Cases Reopened for Investigation	Total Cases for Investigation	Cases Not Investigated Under 157(1)(b) CRPC	Cases Transferred to Other State or Agency	Cases Withdrawn by the Govt during Investigation	Final Report - Cases Ended as FR Non Cognizable	Final Report - Cases Ended as Final Report False	Final Report - Cases Ended as Mistake of Fact or of law or Civil Dispute	Final Report - Cases True but Insufficient Evidence or Untraced or No Clue	Final Report - Cases Abated during Investigation	Final Report - Total	Charge Sheets Submitted - Cases ChargeSheeted Out of cases From Prev. Year	Charge Sheets Submitted - Cases Charge sheeted Out of Cases during the year	Charge Sheets Submitted - Cases Charge sheeted	Total Cases Disposed Off by Police	Cases Quashed at Investigation Stage	Cases Stayed at Investigation Stage	Cases Pending Invsgn.at end of the year	Chargesheeting Rate	Pendency Percentage
22	Unlawful Assembly	8238	14157	2	22397	0	4	0	28	926	982	527	59	2522	2463	7165	9628	12154	5	4	10238	79.2	45.7
23	Riots	33914	41954	69	75937	2	13	4	304	1461	1764	2537	37	6103	16824	24598	41422	47540	22	43	28371	87.1	37.4

Crime rates for the offence of unlawful assembly for the year 2021. Acquired from Crime Head-wise Police Disposal of IPC Crime Cases during 2021 | Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India.

Research that engages with Unlawful Assembly

1. The Use and Misuse of Section 144 CrPC - An empirical analysis of all the orders passed in 2021 in Delhi
2. Assessing India’s Legal Framework on the Right to Peaceful Assembly

Related terms

Riot